What did he just call me?
He called me Ye-zi.
Ye Zichen stared, dumb-founded, at the kneeling figure. Su Yan was by his side, embraced him and sobbing.
Ye-zi……
It was an autumn day when the Polytechnic’s grounds were completely covered in red maple leaves. Ye Zichen had just registered and been assigned a dorm room. He dragged his humble suitcase to the dormitory…..
“Hey, are you new?”
The speaker was a youth sitting by the window and smoking a cigarette. One look at his clothes and you could tell that they’d cost an extraordinary amount.
“Mm.”
At the time, he preferred to maintain an absolute distance from strangers. Even now, he was the same way.
Ye Zichen looked over the beds in the dorm room, then dragged his suitcase to a bunk facing the window.
“Not bad! You even knew to take a spot by the window. It seems we have similar interests?” The youth thumped his shoulders. Ye Zichen frowned in displeasure but said nothing.
“Don’t pretend. Our dorm directly faces School Beauty Su’s room. I heard all the girls there are top-class. Right, bro, I still don’t know what to call you.”
Ye Zichen didn’t particularly care for this sort of overly-familiar attitude. He frowned as he replied, “Ye Zichen.”
He used his cold voice tone to tell the youth to back off. To his surprise, the youth simply put his arms around his shoulders and said, “I’m Su Yiyun. Hey…. You’re Ye Zichen, so how about I call you Ye-zi! Ye-zi, I like the look of you. Do you want School Beauty Su’s phone number? I can give it to you!”
That’s where the nickname “Ye-Zi” came from.
Perhaps not even Ye Zichen knew how they later managed to become such good friends despite their starkly different personalities.
Until……
“I told you, we’re…. We’re done.”
Su Yiyun stood beside Gu Li, a cold smile on his lips. A demonic horde stood behind him, so vast it blocked out the sun. As for Ye Zichen….
Countless corpses lay motionlessly around him as well as Su Yan, who Su Yiyun had heartlessly kicked away.
His best bro!
He joined the demons!
In his heart, Ye Zichen had tried to justify his behavior countless times, had come up with all sorts of excuses for him.
However, after each incident, his heart grew colder and colder, until now, finally, he’d made up his mind to kill Su Yiyun…..
But he……
Ye-zi?
“Big Brother!”
Su Yan tightly embraced him, her body wracked with heartrending sobs.
At that moment, Su Zhu landed before Su Liu’er. When she saw Su Liu’er’s missing arm, she felt a surge of pain in her heart. However, when she saw that Su Liu’er truly calmed down…..
She was inwardly actually somewhat relieved.
Ye Zichen stood between them, watching in utter astonishment as blood dripped from his trembling hands.
Hadn’t he sought refuge with the demons?
Hadn’t he said he was their enemy, not their friend?
Scene after scene flashed through Ye Zichen’s mind. He recalled everything they’d said about cutting all ties with each other. However, no matter how much he thought, all of it lost to that one word: Ye-zi.
“Ol’ Three!”
He didn’t hold back; he poured pure spiritual energy into Su Yiyun’s body. However, as soon as it reached him, Ye Zichen discovered that Su Yiyun’s wouldn’t have lived much longer anyway.
“Forget about it. Don’t waste your energy on me. My life has reached its end!” He chuckled and pushed Ye Zichen’s hand away, then patted Su Yan’s head. “I’m actually rather fortunate that I had the chance to see you one last time.”
“You were never truly loyal to the demons, were you? You never joined forces with them, did you?” shouted Ye Zichen.
“Of course not. You’re the reincarnation of the Yellow Emperor and I’m your bro. Demons are your greatest enemies, how could I possibly join them? Are they worthy?”
Su Yiyun answered with a relaxed grin, but when Ye ZIchen heard his words, it was like a bomb went off in his head.
Were they worthy?
That sentence alone explained it all!
From the start, Su Yiyun had never given his heart to the demons.
“Then why did you lie to me? You told us that we were enemies, you fought me on the demons’ behalf over and over again. Why did you do that…. Su Yiyun, tell me, why the hell did you do it?” Ye Zichen roared angrily. He didn’t understand…
Just how did Su Yiyun put on such a perfect act? He wasn’t an actor. How had his performance been so convincing?
Why?!
Could it be that this was all…..
“I wanted you to kill me with your own hands.” Just as this idea popped into Ye Zichen’s head, Su Yiyun smiled and said, “I did all this so you’d hate me enough to kill me with your own hands…. Walking this path has hurt far too many innocents. You represent the people of the Three Realms. You killing me….. means they’ve gotten their revenge!”
“Nonsense!” Ye Zichen shouted angrily, eyes bloodshot, “you still haven’t told me why you went to the demons. Gu Li said it earlier too: if you’d joined forces with me, the demons wouldn’t have stood any chance against us. If you’d joined me, you wouldn’t have…..”
At that point, Ye Zichen got somewhat choked up.
Su Yiyun was twenty years old.
However, he’d already used up almost all of his life force; he was a candle flickering in the wind. For him to have overdrawn his life force to such an extent, Ye Zichen couldn’t even imagine what Su Yiyun must have been through while he was with the demons.
“It would have been the same. My current strength is actually the result of overdrawing my life force. Even if I’d fought by your side, I couldn’t have possessed my current abilities without drawing on my life force.” Su Yiyun smiled calmly, relief written in his eyes.
“There’s no need to even ask why I didn’t tell you. I couldn’t tell you. The moment I started this game, there was no way I could turn back. Besides, to make the greatest possible wave, I had to stand by the demon’s side.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ye Zichen shook his head repeatedly. He truly didn’t understand what Su Yiyun was saying.
“Cough….”
At that moment, Su Yiyun coughed up a mouthful of blood. Su Yan, who was currently treating his wounds, shook inexplicably.
Su Yiyun simply wiped his mouth with his sleeves then reached out and tousled her hair.
“Enough, there’s no need to treat my wounds. Lil’ Yan…. I’m so sorry for what I did to you.”
Su Yan shook her head repeatedly as the light in her hands grew even brighter. However, no matter what she did, Su Yiyun’s breathing only grew weaker and weaker.
At that moment, she hated herself a little. Why hadn’t she ever properly learned healing magic from that woman in her consciousness…..
Why had she always been too timid to engage with it all?
It was because of her own timidness, her own cowardice… that she couldn’t save her brother now.
“Lil’ Yan!” When he saw her sweating from exertion, Su Yiyun couldn’t help but call her name.
But she only shouted back decisively, “don’t worry about me! You shouldn’t talk…..”
She sobbed, then lowered her head as she pressed Su Yiyun’s wounded chest.
Su Yiyun could only shake his head helplessly at her.
He turned to Ye Zichen and chuckled, “I almost forgot. I have a present for you.”
